Creating and Managing Groups in Linux
Objective:
Learn how to create groups, add users to groups, and manage group memberships using Linux
commands.
Part 1: Creating a Group
1. Create a group:
o Use the groupadd command to create a new group named team.
bash
sudo groupadd team
2. Verify the group creation:
o Check if the group has been successfully created by listing all groups.
bash
cat /etc/group | grep team
Part 2: Adding Users to a Group
1. Create two new users:
o Add two new users alice and bob using the useradd command (without home
directories for simplicity).
bash
sudo useradd -M alice
sudo useradd -M bob
2. Add alice to the team group:
o Use the usermod command to add alice to the team group.
bash
sudo usermod -aG team alice
3. Add bob to the team group:
o Similarly, add bob to the team group.
bash
Copy code
sudo usermod -aG team bob
4. Verify the users are part of the group:
o Check group membership of both users using the groups command.
bash
groups alice
groups bob
Part 3: Managing Group Membership
1. Remove alice from the team group:
o To remove alice from the team group, use the gpasswd command.
Bash
sudo gpasswd -d alice team
2. Verify removal:
o Check if alice has been removed from the group.
bash
groups alice
Part 4: Setting Group Ownership and Permissions
1. Create a shared directory for the team group:
o Create a directory called shared_folder that will be owned by the team group.
bash
sudo mkdir /shared_folder
2. Set the team group as the owner of the directory:
o Use the chown command to set team as the group owner of the shared_folder.
bashsudo chown :team /shared_folder
3. Set permissions so only the team group can access the directory:
o Use the chmod command to give the team group read, write, and execute
permissions on the folder.
bash
sudo chmod 770 /shared_folder
4. Verify the permissions:
o Check the permissions of the directory to ensure that they are set correctly.
bash
ls -ld /shared_folder
Part 5: Deleting a Group
1. Remove the team group:
o If you no longer need the group, delete it using the groupdel command.
bash
sudo groupdel team
2. Verify group deletion:
o Check if the group has been successfully removed.
bash
cat /etc/group | grep team
Summary of Commands:
• groupadd: Create a new group.
• usermod -aG: Add a user to a group.
• groups: List group memberships of a user.
• gpasswd -d: Remove a user from a group.
• chown: Change file/directory ownership.
• chmod: Set file/directory permissions.
• groupdel: Delete a group.
